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"When the Sky Falls" is an event book which introduces the falling of a meteorite into a fantasy setting as well as the aftermath, or "Afterfall." The book covers three types of meteorites and how to best introduce them into your campaign world. For those interested in crunch the book also provides a plethora of new material including four new prestige classes, 12 new meteorite-related feats, 38 new spells, new magic items and monsters as well as five scenarios which can be easily integrated into any campaign.
Each section includes useful check lists which game masters can use to plan their event beforehand. These check lists ensure the game master has sorted out all the details and will get the most out of introducing this event to their story.
I found the book to be very useful and a welcome addition to my collection. Planning out major events like this can be a time consuming process and this product makes sure I get the most out of my time without missing any of the important details.
This book is a d20 product but can also be used (with some adjustments) with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. A lot of the material is game agnostic.
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Mythic is a fairly solid system and a great tool for game masters (or groups looking to play sans the game master). It places a strong emphasis on each player taking an active role in the process of generating the ongoing narrative of each game. In spirit it resembles other storytelling games (like The Onyx Path's World of Darkness games) although it utilizes a unique approach to that style of gaming.
The GM emulator is an interesting tool as either an aide for your game master or as a "substitute" for the gamer behind the GM screen.
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It's a catalog. Fans of Palladium Books will find this product interesting and somewhat useful in planning their purchases. As always Palladium Books has a mediocre track record when it comes to releasing new books on time. It is the nature of the beast so any future release dates should be taken with a large grain of salt. For those books already on the market double check their website to see if they are still in stock.
Palladium Books has been experimenting with print on demand according to Kevin Siembieda. A lot of their most recent prints have actually been PoD runs. Although this option is not available yet for individual book purchases it is a sign that Palladium is exploring their options in the ever changing game industry.
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"On Writing Horror" is an excellent book for aspiring horror writers and/or those curious about the "horrific" world of writing and publishing horror. The publishing industry has changed quite a bit through the years and horror has always filled a peculiar niche which shares a lot of overlap with other genres. Elements of horror are found throughout literature making this the kind of book that any writer could benefit from reading.
Piece by piece this book examines the state of the industry, advice and tips on writing horror and how to go about getting published in a genre which runs the length and breadth of literature. Each topic is well organized, explored and suitably inspires those with interest in the genre. I found a great deal of the advice to be helpful to me as a writer in general and especially as an explorer of horror.
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Dudes of Legend is silly. Dudes of Legend is awesome. It is both silly and awesome. As humorous as this product is I found it particularly useful for the right type of game.
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Dudes of Legend is silly. Dudes of Legend is awesome. It is both silly and awesome. As humorous as this product is I found it particularly useful for the right type of game.
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When it comes to D&D 4E initiative cards are a great idea but these are too cluttered to be very useful. Most of this is information that most DMs will never need to know. With so much on each card it becomes a chore finding the information you need. It is faster to ask your players for the info which defeats the purpose of having it in the first place.
The other drawback to this product is the cards are only for PCs but none for monsters. It is only half a product.
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This is a nice little product from Kobold Press. For players who want to play a more traditional ranger without spell-casting abilities this class product works quite well.
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Often times game masters (GM) spend as much time preparing for games as they do running them. Every GM has their own methods which are usually developed through trial and error because quite frankly, for everything written about game mastering there is very little said about the process of "session prep." The lucky GMs have someone to guide them but the unlucky ones are forced to stumble through until they eventually figure things out for themselves.
Never Unprepared shows GMs how to skip the grueling task of learning game prep. Based on decades of experience this book helps GMs boil down session prep to a simple but thorough process with allows for focus on what is most important to the game. Then it shows you how to schedule those tasks so your session prep can go as smoothly as possible.
This book is written independent of system so GMs will find it useful for any game. I have been a GM for over two decades and I found this book had plenty of suggestions to make my session prep even easier.
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If the Circle of the Crone or Lancea Sanctum play any role in your chronicle this book will prove itself invaluable. These new mechanics for blood sorcery are much more versatile than the original without abandoning the essence of the vampiric existence. The system can also be easily adapted to traditions of your own design.
As an alternative to blood sorcery, Threnodies are special effects vampire can invoke by drawing deeper on the Beast using song (or chants, poetry, rhythmic music) and committing a sacrifice. These effects are derived from Disciplines and they can be quite potent but they are also very dangerous. If the character performing the Threnody somehow fails to do so correctly (by failing or dramatically failing the roll) the negative results can be disastrous and varied. My particular favorite result is the vampire loses control of the Beast. No, not frenzy. The Beast actually flees the vampire's body and runs rampant.
If your troupe is looking to get more out of blood sorcery this is a great book for you.
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There are a lot of books written about writing books. For the most part each of them says the same thing so if you are looking at this book you are probably asking yourself, "What makes Writing Fiction Step by Step by Josip Novakovich different?" Or at least, "Why should I buy this one?" Those are great questions. Let me help you answer them.
Writing Fiction Step by Step breaks down the writing process into a step by step process which writers can use to develop their craft. I know what you are saying, "Well duh Mike! It says that in the title." I know it does but it needed to be said so I can point out that Josip emphasizes that step by step process with over 200 clever exercises. Each exercise asks you to write something and to focus on a particular kind of character, dialogue, plot or theme (among others). Through these exercises writers will find themselves developing their skill by actually using it. As many writers have said before, "If you want to be a writer you need to write." Each chapter and exercise builds on the ones which came before them. As you work your way through this book you will find yourself developing a cohesive tool set with which to produce interesting fiction. In fact, you will find you have already written a great deal of interesting fiction. All you need to do after that is keep writing.
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Scion is a great game.
Unfortunately, it is a great game with a decent system that has some holes in it. At first glance most of these holes in the system are hard to notice but it will not take your troupe long to find them once you start playing. More than likely you will muscle through the rough spots because at it's core, Scion is still a great game.
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Not only is this a good book it is also essential to play any of the New World of Darkness games. This book contains all of the basic rules you need to play a Storytelling System game and if you never move beyond a mortals chronicle (which is actually quite feasible depending on the story you want to tell) you may never need much more than this one book.
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Monte Cook's World of Darkness is an interesting take on the setting with a little too much focus on the monster stomping aspects of other popular d20-based games. Monte has taken all of the building blocks of the WoD (Inconnu, vampires, mages, etc.) and built something new with them. There are monsters all over the place and whether you are playing one kind or another your job is pretty much to stomp the bad guys. One of Monte's strengths has always been world building and I am not sure why he didn't do more with this project.
The system is good but not 100% solid. There are some missing rules which technically make some mechanics unusable without house ruling to make things work. After a trip to Monte Cook's forums I was able to find the missing rules (provided by one of the people who helped Monte develop the game) but as such they are not in the book.
All in all this is a decent PDF purchase (although I advise not to spend the money on a print copy unless you can find it cheaper) and you will find enough of a game to play a short campaign. You probably won't get much more out of it than that.
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"One Year Later" was White Wolf's offering for Free RPG Day 2008. The module is built like a S.A.S. and has everything a troupe needs to play Hunter the Vigil except for 10-sided dice.
The story takes place "one year later" in the city of Pittsburgh and can be played as a sequel to The Hunt (Hunter's other Quickstart S.A.S.) or as a standalone story. Players need no knowledge of what took place in the first module although playing one after the other can enhance the game play experience. Both modules (separate or together) are excellent jumping off points for a chronicle of your design or as a one-shot game. In this story each player will take on the role of one of "Gabreski's Boys" which is the name the cell has taken for itself. The cell is still cleaning up the mess left behind after the events of the previous S.A.S. but now they are down to a single ghoul. The cell wants revenge for their friends who were killed and the ghoul wants revenge for all of its brothers the cell has destroyed.
The story is fairly straight forward and moves quickly so it can be played in a single session or easily stretched over two or three. The plot covers all the usual types of activities hunters will find themselves engaged in including chases, investigation, research and unusual encounters with the supernatural. By the end of this S.A.S. your troupe should have a good feel for the basics of a Hunter game and will be more than ready to build from there.
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